(photo by Edwin Folven)

The Beverly Hill City Council held a traditional menorah lighting ceremony on Nov. 30 on the Crescent Drive Plaza in front of City Hall. Mayor Robert Wunderlich, left, was joined by Vice Mayor Lili Bosse and Councilmen John Mirisch, Julian Gold and Lester Friedman at the ceremony.

Wunderlich said Hanukkah is a special time of the year for the Jewish community, and he encouraged everyone to take part in celebrating the Festival of Lights.

“Let us come together to celebrate our lit menorah as we in Beverly Hills continue to be a welcoming place of all religions and all ethnicities,” Wunderlich said.

The mayor also addressed an incident that occurred on Nov. 28, the first night of Hanukkah, in which flyers with hate speech against the Jewish community were distributed to homes in the northeast portion of the city. The Beverly Hills Police Department is investigating and searching for the individuals responsible.

“Beverly Hills was the target of a shameful anti-Semitic attack, the distribution of anti-Semitic flyers, and likely the timing was not accidental. It happened before the first night of Hanukkah,” Wunderlich said. “We do have a large Jewish population here and unfortunately we are the victims of hate speech like that. Whether it’s against Jews or anyone else, we won’t tolerate it in Beverly Hills. We are doing what we can to follow up and will find the people responsible.”